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Gregory Jein
Gregory "Greg" B. Jein is a science fiction model-maker and artist whose work includes studio models and other artwork, such as landscape miniatures, that appeared throughout the Star Trek franchise. He spent much of his time as an independent contractor operating his own model shop, "Gregory Jein Inc." Jein traces his professional connections to Star Trek as far back as , when Apogee, Inc. asked him to build the exterior sets of V'Ger for . In , Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) had him work on the construction of the two and six-foot studio models of the . Forming Gregory Jein, Inc. Later that year he left ILM and formed his own company, Gregory Jein, Inc., located in Marina Del Rey, California, and he started working as an independent contractor for the Star Trek franchise. (Cinefantastique, Vol 23 #2/3, p. 95) Among his most notable achievements during this time were the [[Galaxy class model#Four-foot model|four-foot USS Enterprise-D]], which he built for later seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the recreated [[Constitution class model#"Trials and Tribble-ations" model|USS Enterprise]] and Deep Space Station K-7 models built for . Jein received his first Emmy Award nomination for his visual effects work on that episode in and shared this nomination with Gary Hutzel, Judy Elkins, Paul Maples, Adrian Hurley, Don Lee, Steve Fong, Davy Nethercutt, Kevin Bouchez, Laurie Resnick, and Adam Howard. Gregory Jein, Inc. was the primary supplier of studio models for the The Next Generations series during its entire run and has produced the vast majority of the models for that series. Only during the second half of 1989 was the company not available to the television franchise, as the services of the company were exclusively reserved first by Ferren and Associates for and subsequently by Paramount Pictures for the production of . During that period the slack was taken up by Starlight Effects and Tony Meininger. The two other model builders called in during those years, Science Fiction Modelmaking Associates and Bill George, were contracted to ease the workload on Gregory Jein, Inc. when demands for a specific episode were particularly tasking for the company. Gregory Jein, Inc. was superseded as primary studio model vendor for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager by Meininger's Brazil-Fabrication & Design, though the company continued to provide services for the franchise on an occasional basis, most notably the "Trials and Tribble-ations" models. Staff While operating Gregory Jein, Inc., his staff at one time or another, included, among others: *Larry Albright (subcontractor) *Eduardo Batres *Gunnar Ferdinandsen *Mike Harsh *Jason Kaufman *Bruce MacRae *David Merriman, Jr. (subcontractor) *Warren Riggs *Scott Schneider *Richard Slifka *Greg Stuhl *Dana White Other work Other models credited in full or part to him include the following classes: *''Ambassador''-classStar Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 10 *''D'deridex''-classStar Trek: The Next Generation Companion 2nd ed., p. 60 * Star Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 150 *''Daedalus''-classStar Trek Encyclopedia 1st ed., p. 64 *''Excelsior''-class (second smaller studio model)Drex Files *''Freedom''-classEx Astris Scientia *''Nebula''-classStar Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 317 *''Niagara''-classEx Astris Scientia *''Vor'cha''-classStar Trek Encyclopedia 2nd ed., p. 243 *McKinley Station Commercial availability At one time some of Jein's work was commercially available to the public. On , Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, opened the in Chicago, an attempt to emulate the merchandise store formula like the and . Part of its merchandise was a limited production run of twelve of Jein models for Star Trek, cast by Jein's company from the same molds as the original studio versions. The models chosen were the four-foot Galaxy-class, the D'deridex-class, the second (smaller) Excelsior-class, the Vor'cha-class and the "Trials and Tribble-ations" version of the Constitution-class. They cost from US$5,000-$10,000 apiece and came with certificates of authenticity, but were more crudely detailed and sported no internal lighting. The store was not a success and closed down in . That was the only time Jein originals were commercially available. Pieces that by that time went unsold ended up in restaurants or the shop at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. http://startrekauction.blogspot.com/2011/03/uss-enterprise-model-from-sci-fi-museum.html Cameo Jein provided photographs of himself in a baseball jersey to be used in a prop piece of artwork: Benjamin Sisko's baseball card depicting Buck Bokai. Keone Young was later chosen to perform the role in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode . Many DS9 crew members were astonished by the physical similarity between the two men, although the producers maintained that this was a coincidence, and that they had simply cast the performer with the best acting ability. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, p. 54) Beginnings as a fan As a fan, he wrote an analysis of starship registries for the T-Negative fanzine, "The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship", in which he matched known and assumed names of starships to the registry numbers seen in . http://www.trekplace.com/article10.html This list of starships with registry numbers became popular among fans, and eventually FASA role-playing game incorporated it into their sourcebooks. The list was adopted by Michael Okuda for the official Star Trek Encyclopedia in . Many of the registries became canon with the remastering of Star Trek: The Original Series in : for the upgrade, Okuda applied most of Jein's numbers to their respective ships. Another of the registry numbers appeared on-screen on the in . Continued fan-production work In , Jein served as technical adviser on the fan-made internet series Star Trek: New Voyages (since rechristened Phase II) episode "World Enough and Time", which featured James Cawley, Jeffery Quinn, George Takei, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and John Carrigan. Jein is a long time fan of TOS, and he owns several props from the series, including the original studio model of the . Other projects Other projects he worked for include the War of the Worlds (1988), (1983) and TV movie and series, as well as the movies , Flesh Gordon, (working as sub-contractor for Douglas Trumbull's Future General Corporation), , , Hunt for Red October, , , and . Another project he worked on was , with several Trek alumni including Denise Okuda, Christopher Lloyd, and Robert Ito, among others. Jein was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award in and for his work on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941, respectively. He was also nominated for an Emmy for his effects work on the HBO mini-series, Angels in America. Footnotes Star Trek interviews * TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Three" ("Greg Jein: Modelmaker"), interviewed on * TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Select Historical Data" ("A New Ship Debuts"), interviewed on 5 October 2001 * 2007 Interview with Gregory Jein at StarTrek.com Reference *Brad Munson, "Greg Jein; Miniature Giant", Cinefex, issue 2, pp. 24-49 External links * * * (as Gregory Jein, Inc.) * The Case of Jonathan Doe Starship at TrekPlace.com de:Greg Jein es:Gregory Jein nl:Greg Jein Jein, Greg Jein, Greg Jein, Greg Jein, Gregory